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Biography

2015 will see Andrea Dovizioso line up in the Ducati Team colours for a third successive year in the MotoGP World Championship. In the last two seasons, which have been characterized by ups and downs, the 28-year-old racer from the Romagna region of Italy has made a major contribution to the development of the Desmosedici bike and a fifth place overall in the 2014 standings bodes well for a year in which Ducati aims to be back amongst the top protagonists in the premier category.

Andrea was born in Forlimpopoli on 23 March 1986, and his passion for motorcycles started when he watched his father race motocross at weekends. When he was just 4 years old, his dad surprised him with a minibike and by the age of seven, Andrea was racing on both asphalt and dirt. Two mini road racing titles in 1997 and '98 were his first taste of championship glory.

Andrea moved up to 125cc machines in the Aprilia Challenge in 2000, immediately taking the crown. One year later, he added the European 125cc title to his trophy-case with a pair of wins in Hungary. That year Andrea also finished fourth in the Italian Championship and entered his first Grand Prix, in Italy. In 2002, He raced a Honda for the Scot team, ending the 125cc standings in sixteenth place. He continued with Cirano Mularoni's squad in 2003, qualifying on the front row in South Africa and achieving his first GP podium finish as runner-up. His first pole came in France, where he also finished the race in third place. Two more podiums in Britain and Japan saw Dovi finish fifth overall and he then scored his maiden victory in South Africa in 2004, following that up with wins in France, Britain, Japan, and Australia. Six more podium finishes and eight poles helped power him to the world title.

Andrea moved to 250cc in 2005 with the same team that had taken him to success in 125cc. He scored five podium finishes to end the season in third place. In 2006 he took his first 250cc win in Catalunya, and his second at the penultimate race in Portugal. Eleven podium finishes that year, together with his first two poles, took him to the runner-up slot. He repeated that result in 2007, with wins in Turkey and Britain, and eight more podiums to go with two pole positions.

Again with Scot Honda, Andrea then moved up to MotoGP in 2008, and kicked off his premium class career with fourth in Qatar. His consistency paid off as he finished fifth in his rookie season, scoring nine top-five finishes and his first podium in Sepang. Andrea's potential was rewarded when HRC put him in the factory team for 2009. The Italian scored his first win in a wet British Grand Prix, and finished the season sixth overall. Dovi went one better in 2010, finishing runner-up three times, and notching up a first-ever pole in Japan. In Andrea's third season with Honda, with Pedrosa and Stoner as teammates, he finished fifteen times in the top five, impressive results that included seven podiums. Dovi finished third overall, his best result in the premier class.

After a decade on Hondas, Dovizioso moved to Tech3 Yamaha in 2012, when MotoGP switched from 800cc to 1,000cc engines. Teamed with Crutchlow, he continued to shine despite no longer being at the factory level, scoring six third-place finishes and placing in the top five on fourteen occasions. Fourth overall, with three front-row starts, was the best result by a non-factory rider.

In his first year with the Ducati Team, Dovizioso started with hopes of being on a competitive machine by the end of the season, but things went differently and his best results were a fourth place in France, and two front-row starts at Le Mans and Mugello.

Things took a turn for the better in 2014. The arrival of Luigi Dall'Igna as Ducati Corse Technical Director breathed new life into the entire team and Dovizioso, this time flanked by his former partner Crutchlow, was finally able to obtain some encouraging results. He twice finished on the podium in the first half of the season (at Austin and Assen), and then placed the GP14 on pole in Japan. A fifth place overall with 187 points to his name was just reward at the end of the season.

Biography

Andrea Iannone has already aroused considerable excitement in racing circles over his prospects in MotoGP. The 25-year-old Italian, who this year becomes a fully-fledged member of the factory Ducati Team alongside Andrea Dovizioso, has demonstrated on numerous occasions that he holds all the right cards for success.

Year by Year

2014:

MotoGP (Pramac Racing Ducati Desmosedici GP14), 10th

2013:

MotoGP (Pramac Racing Ducati Desmosedici GP13), 12th

2012:

Moto2 (Speed Up), 3rd

2011:

Moto2 (Suter), 3rd

2010:

Moto2 (Speed Up), 3rd

2009:

World 125cc (Aprilia), 7th

2008:

World 125cc (Aprilia), 10th

2007:

World 125cc (Aprilia), 20th

2006:

World 125cc (Aprilia), 22nd

2005:

World 125cc (Aprilia), 20th

2004:

CEV 125cc, 9th

Iannone was born in the Adriatic coastal town of Vasto, on August 9th 1989, and his interest in bikes began at a very early age. Like many other top riders, he refined his riding abilities first in minibikes, and then in 125cc, where he competed for the Abruzzo Junior team in national championships in Italy and Spain. At the age of 15, Iannone was already gearing up for the world stage, and he made an early debut in 125cc on a factory Aprilia bike. The 2005 season was a learning one for Andrea, who improved constantly throughout the year. At the penultimate round in Turkey, he finished tenth - his best result of the year - and concluded the season twentieth overall in the final standings.

In 2006 Iannone switched to a Ticino Hosting Campetella Racing Team Aprilia, racing alongside his compatriot Simone Grotzkyj. Andrea's best result was a ninth place in France, and he was proving to be quite competitive, but in Malaysia he made contact with the bike of a fallen rider and in turn crashed himself. He was forced to miss the last four rounds of the season, and as a result could only place 22nd overall.

The 2007 season saw Andrea constantly in the top 15, his best result being another ninth place in Turkey, which put him twentieth overall in the final standings of the 125cc category. In 2008 Iannone made major progress, qualifying on the front row for the first time (at Brno), recording his first pole position in a GP (at Sepang), and notching up his first GP victory (in China). Despite a few crashes, the Italian improved his position at the end of the year, finishing the season in tenth place.

The 2009 season was Andrea's last one in the 125cc category, and the Italian started off well with two wins in a row in Qatar and Japan, adding a third place to his score in Catalunya, four rounds later. Unfortunately the rest of the season took a downhill turn from then on, and a third place in the Czech Republic GP was the only bright spot in the second half of the year. Nevertheless, he scored the best overall finish in his career with seventh, as well as his best-ever qualifying performance with two pole positions to his name.

Team manager Luca Boscoscuro was convinced of Iannone's potential, so much so that he signed him up for the 2010 Moto2 season with the Fimmco Speed Up Team, and it was in this new championship that Iannone started to emerge. He grabbed pole on five occasions and won in Italy, the Netherlands and at Aragon, in addition to stepping onto the podium another five times. At the end of the year, Andrea was third overall in the standings after truly making a name for himself during the year.

In 2011 Iannone switched to the Speed Master Team, racing a Suter chassis. Even though he was one of just three riders to win more than one race (Jerez, Brno and Motegi), he could only finish on the podium three more times and once again ended the season in third place. That same year, he earned himself the nickname of "Crazy Joe" (subsequently changed to "The Maniac Joe") for his aggressive and exciting riding style.

The following year the team changed their chassis manufacturer to Speed Up, and as a result Iannone's form improved considerably. Even though he won one fewer race than in the previous two seasons (in Catalunya and at Mugello), Andrea finished in the top 5 ten times, scoring two second places in Qatar and Assen and a third at Misano. His qualifying form was also positive, and although he did not obtain any pole positions, he put his bike on the front row six times. At the end of the season Iannone finished third ... for the third year in succession.

2013 was his first year in the premier MotoGP class with the factory-supported Pramac Racing Team on a Ducati GP13. During the season he finished in the top 10 five times, his best result being an eighth place in the Australian GP on the way to an overall twelfth in his rookie season.

In 2014 he remained in the same factory-supported team, with Yonny Hern?ndez as his team-mate. His best results were three fifth places (Germany, Czech Republic and San Marino) and he finished the season tenth overall with 102 points. He was forced to miss the GP of Malaysia with an injury to his left arm which he picked up in free practice.